The 74th Annual Hunger Games: Beware the Little People
by Murmures
Summary: In a world where Katniss was too sick to attend the Reaping, Prim takes her place. Initially feeling doomed to die, Prim then partners with Rue and they decide to cause all worlds of trouble along the way.
1. Chapter 1

24 pods emerged from the ground. The viewer of the 74th annual hunger games would usually have had 60 seconds of stillness before things really, well… how do you say it… kicked off. However, this time it was different. As the whole of Panem stood still, the two young girls, who should have been stood still, quaking in fear, were in fact clearly busy. They were stood teetering on their small platform, taking off their shoes. They were still clearly wearing something reasonably sturdy underneath their shoes, some sort of thick sock. But they, to the best assumption of the viewer, had decided their shoes would weigh them down. It was odd, very odd.

With 10 seconds to go, they stood up and made eye contact. The little people of the games. Blonde hair and brown hair waving in the wind, blue eyes and brown eyes staring at each other. An imperceptible nod.

5 seconds to go.

"If we burn, you burn with us!" they screamed, each throwing a shoe in the opposite direction. Shoe landing half a second before the bombs were switched off.

Deafening booms. Clock hits zero.

The two sets of tiny feet ran for their lives. Blonde hair heading straight for the large medical pack, brown hair scooping up some wire, some knives and a small rucksack, unaware of what was in it.

The deafening sounds of the bombs going off had startled some of the other competitors. One was clutching their ear. No one had really stopped to check who was lost, and if they had, perhaps they would have been hugely shocked.

"The trees! The Trees," A small voice shouted. She ran to her friend, "Get out of here, go!".

Two small hands clasped together in the middle of chaos. Anchoring each other to the reality of their situation.

And so they ran. And ran and ran and ran. Time and space began to melt away as all they could think of was running for their lives. On and on they went, minutes melted away and time became fluid.

"Up here!" the little girl with the olive skin let go of her blonde friends' hand and gesticulated madly, panting heavily trying to intake enough

The blonde girl nodded, panting.

They climbed. The small girl with blonde pigtails more clumsily than her friend. They climbed and climbed and climbed, out of the reach and sight of those chasing them.

At length they stopped, on boughs solid enough to support them.

They panted, heart rate returning to normal, adrenaline subsiding.

The blonde girl grinned at her friend. Then she laughed.

"Rue, we did it…"

Rue hugged her back. "We're alive."

The smiles could not be wiped off their faces. They just sat there, hugging each other and drinking in the joy of still breathing, still having hope for a future.

Back in the tribute centre, Haymitch was looking in shock at the screen. He was struggling to process what he had just seen.

The mentor area was loud. There was pure anger emanating from the side of the careers from the second the bomb went off. Outer district mentors looked on in shock, some in anger at the damaged caused to their tributes, but most amazement and amusement.

"Genuis," Beetee, the District 3 mentor murmured.

Haymitch slid his wheelable chair over to his long-time friend from district 11 who was sat as the station next to him, also in shock.

"Did you…?" He whispered.

"No idea." Chaff responded. "I loved her, but I thought she was dead. For fucks sake, she's 12. No way should she still be alive".

Haymitch leaned back in his chair.

"Do you think your girl knows?" Haymitch asked… "Do you think she has any idea the shit storm that's going to go down with what they have just done? How the fuck did they figure out the bombs"

"I just think she's not willing to go down without a fight. She's got brains… your girl too. Brains and anger. It's how every outer district…"

"What the actual f*ck Haymitch?" Out of nowhere, Cashmere's voice appeared in front of him. Hand around his neck. With unbelievable force for a middle-aged drunk, Cashmeres hand was forcibly removed from Haymitches throat and twisted behind her back, body forced against the wall.

"What's this, got one hurt early did we sweetheart?" Haymitch growled.

"Your girl cheated…"

"My girl has brains, more than could have been said for yours! Now fuck off out my face, Plastic" Haymitch groweled.

Haymitch let her go, and turned to sit back down.

"She cheated." Cashmere started again,

"That's rich coming from you, bitch," Haymitch spat, "She'd never have won anyway your girl… what the fuck was she even good at apart from sleeping with your academy judges."

Cashmere stormed out.

Back in the game, Prim and Rue were checking out their rucksack. Waterbottle, rope, dried fruit, spare socks and a sleeping bag. Prim was looking through a weird pair of spectacles, trying to figure them out.

Rue almost dropped the wire she had in her hands.

"Pass those…" Prim dropped them into Rues hand.

Rue looked through them and laughed, silently.

"May the odds be ever in our favour Prim" … "Ever in our favour."

"What are they?" Prim asked, confused.

"Night vision goggles. We got night vision goggles Prim! I don't know what they were doing so far from the Cornucopia, but we got freaking night vision goggles!".

The anthem started…The girls looked up. Seven dead in the bloodbath it seemed.

Glimmer; that was a shock. The boy from four also. The Boy from 8 with the bad foot, less of a shock, and both the girl and the boy from 9 & 10\. 7 gone in the bloodbath. Odds improving.

2/ 17 now. Prim shivered. _It becomes more morbid by the minute, the way you think in here_ , she mused. Peeta was still alive though, Thresh too. As much as they wanted to win, and as much as they thought it was futile, didn't want their friends to die. Certainly not before them.

"We should get settled for bed," Rue said.

They climbed to a more comfortable branch and tied themselves in. They didn't bother arranging a watch. They knew they wouldn't kill each other, they were so high up most of the other tributes would die even getting up this tree.

They were in the Hunger Games, but the odds were looking better by the second.

The alliance between Prim and Rue had been somewhat unexpected. The day their lives both had changed forever, the world stood in silence. The world had just expected them to die. Prim knew Katniss would have volunteered if she could, but she was given a sick exemption from her bout of what Prim had believed to be the old world sickness of West Nile Virus, transmitted through a mosquito bite. Rue was the oldest of her siblings though, not a chance.

They both had one slip, one slip in that bowl, and they knew they'd not been the only ones.

Punitive reaping had been speculated about by the rebellion establishment for quite some time. Since the 50th Hunger Games and that girl from 12 actually, the one Haymitch had allied with for a time.

But on day 1 of tribute training, everything changed for both of them. Out of sight, at the 'old games' station of all places. They'd been staring at the TV for a while now.

"How many slips did you have?" Prim asked Rue.

"1. The boy from 8 only had one too. The one with the dodgy foot, the mayors Son. I was going to have more, but we managed to last until reaping day without tesserae. I was going to do it today actually, the first day after when you can take it, so it's only added onto my next years slips"

"How many people live in your district?"

"Oh, I dunno, thousands. We don't all fit in the town square at the Reaping. 12 is tiny, isn't it?"

"Really tiny… but the odds, it's still so low. My district has reaped 12 year olds, but only those who've taken Tesserae."

"You got family?" Prim asked.

"My Ma and my 4 little brothers and sisters. Pa died when I was 7… agriculture incident, _they said._ "

"It's just my Ma and my Older Sister…My Pa died in a mine explosion. I've heard rumours…"

"Me too."

They sat in silence.

"I'm really quiet," said Rue.

"I'm pretty quick," said Prim.

"I'm good at hiding,"

"I know plants,"

"Me too" said Rue.

They looked at each other, not daring to believe they had found a friend in this room of despair.

"Allies?" Rue said

Prim nodded.

They sat in silence again.

"No one has ever used the bombs before, did you know that?" Rue said to Prim.

Prim just looked at her, wide eyed.

"It's all I've done since I got here, watch the old games. I mean, people have played with the arena, your mentor threw that axe which bounced back… but nothing deliberate. Nothing with the bombs. The way I see it, if we can time it right, it will be a huge distraction if nothing else. Time it wrong… well, we're dead anyway aren't we. At least we've not given up that way. Caused a whole lot of trouble along the way. I don't want to kill anyone but I really don't want to just give up. My family are watching, I have to give them something to fight for. I have to give 11 something to fight for"

Prim and Rue sat in silence. Prim was thinking about home, about Katniss, and about her district. She couldn't see Katniss again by fighting, Katniss could have, if she was here… but she wasn't her sister. She couldn't use a bow and arrow and she certainly couldn't physically do the action that caused the death in front of her, stab someone or something. She thought of 12, beaten down and desperate. But causing an explosion… that might give her enough of a running start to get out of there, and if it caused some drama along the way… so be it.

"If we're going to die…" she started, and then looked up at Rue with a grin, "Let's cause a whole lot of trouble on the way."

The rest of that day, they made a start on causing trouble. They were both painfully aware that the "normal" training venues weren't going to work for them. They needed to start the game now. The game was plotting, the game was brains for them. The game was using peoples own feelings and perceptions against them. The game was becoming a con artist.

The game was art, in its most messed up form, thought prim.

Rue started by stealing Cato's knife. They sat gossiping by the TV which was playing the old games for a while before they worked out how to do it.

Then they figured it out. As lunch was called, Prim ran past, acting the small little girl that everyone thought she was, excited for food, not award of her surroundings. She barrelled straight into Cato, falling to the ground.

Cato stood there and laughed. Four careers surrounding Prim was fairly scary, but Prim was desperate to see if it worked. What would Gale call it? A trap?

"What have we got here then?" Cato laughed.

"A little mouse that needs to watch where she's going I think," said Clove, "otherwise the big cats are gunna strike her down,"

"P….please don't hurt me," Prim stuttered, struggling to pull herself up.

"Little mouse, if we could now, we would… But you've got three days still alive so run along and get some food now, you might as well enjoy it."

Prims job was over, she didn't need telling twice. She bolted from the scene with the Careers over to lunch. A small nod and a smile was all she got from Rue. Prim smiled back.

They sat down, and ate as much as they physically could. In silence.

The rest of the day, they wandered around the survival stations. Camouflage, fishing, swimming. All the overlooked stations were important for the overlooked kids.

At about 2pm though, the boy from 7 bumped into Cato accidently on his way to the spear station. Cato flipped. _Twice today._ He thought.

Then he realised.

"You little weasel, you stole my knife,"

Rue and Prim were at the top of the cargo net, biting their lips to stop themselves from giggling at the ensuing fight below them.

"Give me back my damn knife seven!" Cato screamed, slamming the kid against the wall. The poor kid was terrified.

"I don't have your knife,"

Cato's hand sneaked up to the poor boys' throat.

"You're dead kiddo, you're the first one I go for in the arena."

Cloves arm sneaked around Cato's chest.

"Leave it… They're over here." Cato continued to press the boys throat.

"Save it two, Save your killing for the arena."

Cato withdrew immediately from the boy's throat. He fell immediately to the floor, panting. Prim and Rue were sat holding the knife that Cato hadn't noticed go missing out of his pocket over two hours ago. Arrogance was a killer, Haymitch had told Peeta last night. Chaff, it transpired had said similar to Thresh.

But the two little people knew better. Overlook the little people at your peril.

The little people of Panem. Well they could cause all kinds of trouble.

Thresh looked up, and smiled.


	2. Chapter 2

That night, they ate quietly in the district 12 apartment. Haymitch had tried to talk to Peeta about strategy, pleased that he potentially, for once, had a child fit enough and strong enough to win this thing. But Peeta didn't have the fight. He "wanted to stay who he was". Haymitch was fuming. It was arrogance, pure arrogance, to say you wouldn't kill if the time came to it. Who wouldn't? Faced with fear, hunger, and deprivation. Everyone did, every last person. It's why the hunger games worked. For it to fail, every single person must refuse to kill. Otherwise, it worked, every time. It always worked.

Haymitch didn't make eye contact with Prim, not even once. Effie tried to involve Prim in conversation, but Prim made no effort to respond. Simple, polite, yes or no answers. She just tried to eat as much food as possible. She was trying everything, as plain as possible (so it stayed down), as high calorie as possible, and as much as possible. It was the same one floor below, in the District 11 suite. Rue ate in silence, a lot of food in silence, and then, she disappeared.

Prim had overheard about the garden area from some Capitols who'd been helping clear away the costumes after the parade. She hadn't been brave enough to explore it that night, but she'd told Rue about it that day and they immediately decided that they would continue their plotting there.

Prim quietly excused herself from dinner, and no one even noticed. Not even the Avox. She turned the corner to the top level of their apartment, where her bedroom was, and went straight on from there to the fire escape which she was sure would lead to the roof. When she emerged into the air, Rue was already there.

On the rooftop garden.

It was utterly surreal, Prim thought, to find something so beautiful in this land of brick. This land of brick bathed in blood. The blood of 1679 children. Prim wandered around the garden, feeling leaves and flowers, trying to make sure they were real. Everything else was so plastic, she didn't even think they knew what a real plant was. Real beauty.

Little Rue was stood on a bench, further back on the rooftop garden, trying to see over the edge of the wall which surrounded it.

Prim went up to her.

"It's a wonder no one jumps,"

"They can't…" Rue responded. She turned around. Prim was staring at her in shock, and then Rue burst out laughing.

"I haven't tried silly! But if you try, you'll just bounce back. They only make a mistake once here it seems. That mistake happened on the 64th Games. Weren't you watching earlier? They had to do it with one less tribute. I did some reading before dinner tonight and figured out why. The girl from 9, she jumped, about an hour before the games is supposed to start. I heard the boy from 3 explaining about his mentors' work on the Force-fields in the games, and how after that they added them to lots of bits of the tribute centre."

Prim walked to the wall surrounding the garden, and picked up a twig. Sure enough, it bounced back.

She turned around to where Rue was sat on the bench.

"So… the only thing we know, is tribute set up. If we're going to use the bombs, then we'll need to think fast about what we use." Prim said.

"Do we know exactly how they are set up? We won't just trigger a chain reaction. No one has used them before."

"Kind of… I think. If you think about the one where the boy committed suicide, the 71st, it was just him that dies. It has to be. Some games it is if someone decides to off themselves in the first 60 seconds and it kills everyone in the process. They have to have their winner that's how it works."

"Only because we let it." Rue muttered.

Prim stared. Rue drew her knees to her chest.

"Oh give over Prim, it's so windy up here… No one is going to hear a thing, and if they do. So what? We're dead anyway."

Prim sat down, and gave her friend a hug.

"We have family Rue, Family to live for."

"We're dead anyway Prim. We might as well die well… They're going to die anyway, my family anyway. The next eldest is 7, there is no way they will survive without my tesserae. I don't want them to starve Prim. I don't want them to starve"

Rue burst into tears. Prim gave her a hug.

"You listen to me Rue, and you listen well. We aren't giving up. You and me, everyone's written us off. But it's at their peril right. Sure we don't have the training, or the strength. But it's about strength of mind this. You and me… we're going to cause all kinds of trouble, right?"

Rue smiled thinly at Prim.

"All Kinds of trouble."

"Right… bombs. You need to go for 1, and I need to go for 2. They're the ones we need to slow down. They're also going to be far enough away that it isn't going to hurt us. Can you throw?" Prim asked.

"Can I ever." Rue smiled.

"I think it's actually all we can do, all we can plan… I've been thinking, the only variable is Shoes. Unless its frozen, which it hasn't been since that one where virtually everyone died of exposure on the first night, then the shoes are likely to be those Capitol running shoes… we'd both be able to throw those really far. If it's cold, we'll have to re-think. Just run away straight up. But any other temperature… I've never really had shoes in the summer in 12, we need to save them for winter when it's cold"

Rue laughed, she looked down.

"This is my first pair of shoes!"

They fell silent.

"I hope its woods," said Prim. "Woods and a Meadow. At least it will be like home when I die."

"Me too."

"I tend to think, I should be dead already. I've been lucky to live this long. Maybe… maybe we should all be so lucky to die twice Rue, you know. We nearly died when my Pa died. I was 7, my sister was ended up hunting in the end. Peeta saved our lives actually, we'll never be able to repay him now. He gave us bread the night I think we would have died. Ma checked out, she had _the depression_. We nearly starved. I think without that, we'd have been close to our hearts giving out. The odds haven't been in my favour for a long time."

"Is your sister old enough to get reaped?" Rue asked, "You didn't say her age, just she was older."

Prim looked at her sharply. "She didn't chicken out of volunteering for me, if that's what you mean. She got a sick exemption. She has West Nile, she could be dead by now. I suppose it's one motivation for me to live, if I talk about her in my interview, they have to treat her."

"I didn't mean she was a chicken for not volunteering… I mean when have you ever heard of a sibling volunteering for another?"

"Katniss would have."

"I would have. For any of my siblings I'd have volunteered."

Prim smiled.

"I know, that's why we're allies."

They sat in silence.

"Can we even plan anything else?" Rue asked.

"I don't think so. We have to try and blow up the bombs so we can get to the Cornucopia. Then we run. If we separate, we'll just have to figure out where to meet. I think it will be obvious. Like, uphill, into the trees, find water and figure it out. If we survive the Cornucopia, we've got over the worst hour. Everything else, well. We'll figure it out. Brains not brawn and a whole lot of trouble… right?" said Prim, looking for reassurance.

"Right." Rue smiled back, and put her head in her friends lap, looking up at the stars.

That is why the partnership got off to such a flying start. It was such a hugely intense situation, heading into a fight for the death with such long odds of survival. For some, heading in with friends was a bad idea. For others it was all they need.

"What does your district partner think?" Prim asked Rue.

"He's playing his own game. The boy from 1 asked him whether he wanted to join the careers tonight before dinner. Came and knocked on the door and everything. Thresh put him on his arse. He's going solo I think. Survive as long as he can without killing and then do what he needs if necessary. He won't take the fight to anyone, but he wants to go home. He's hoping the careers will pick out…" Rue paused.

"Pick out the little people? Yes, I think that's what Peeta thinks too. He told me he would sacrifice himself for me but I told him he was being selfish. I mean, Imagine… Imagine if we made it through and went home and I had to live with that. I told him to look out for himself. We'll be fine together." Prim said determinedly.

"I love that you told him that, but yet you think he thinks that." Rue commented wryly, sending a small smile at Prim.

"We should try sleep,"

"We should, but we won't be able to. I hate these rooms too. The bed. We didn't have a bed at home. I can't sleep, I feel like it's… suffocating me. I want to breathe air."

"I know. Me too." Prim said.

"Want to camp out? If we sleep at all, I'll wake early, I'm used to getting up early to go plant. There's flowers up here, and air. No one will notice us if we're down by breakfast. Even then. It's like Chaff and Seeder can't bear to look at me."

Prim grinned. "Stay here, I'll get some blankets."

Prim shifted Rue's head off her lap, and disappeared. Shortly, she returned, dragging her duvet from her bed.

They settled down to sleep, under the stars, much the same as that first night in the games.

/

The first night in the games, as much as they both settled down to sleep, sleep fitful, and eventually it was clear they may as well give up. Logically, they both knew sleep was important, but they were too afraid, still on a huge come-down from the adrenaline of the fight at the cornucopia.

"You awake" Rue whispered.

"Mmm." Prim nodded back, sleepily.

"Pass the goggles?" Rue asked. Prim turned around to where their rucksack was secured to the tree.

She was just getting them out, when she nearly dropped them in shock.

"What?"

"Shhhhh". Prim turned around and looked at her friend urgently, putting the strap of the googles around her neck. It was immediately clear why, when Rue shifted her head.

Fire. _How could anyone be so stupid_? Prim fumed. It wasn't even that cold. Her and Rue were there without shoes, they hadn't even got the sleeping bag out yet.

Prim and Rue just sat there, holding hands. It was close, it was so damn close. There were so many risks for them now. Not only careers, but if someone was dumb enough to light a fire *that* visible, perhaps they'd also cause a forest fire, and burn them down.

Before long, the inevitable happened. Careers stomping through. Laughing.

"I wonder which of the little mice have lit a fire in the night…" Cato mused, laughing.

They stumbled through the clearing, deafeningly loud. Behind them trailed one, a blonde boy, perhaps slow, perhaps tired, and perhaps sceptical. It was difficult to tell.

Prim had to bite her tongue to stop her crying out loud when she realised who it was. The boy trailing behind, was the boy who saved her life. The sweet boy, who always beat up the bullies at school, who helped the little kids. The boy who swore that he wouldn't let the games change him.

The boy trailing behind…

"Come on 12, anyone wouldn't think you were a bit of a pansy. What's the problem? Faint at the sight of blood," the boy from 1 gibed. The girl from 2 rolled her eyes but carried on. The boy from 2 was miles ahead with the girl from four.

The boy trailing behind, was Peeta. Poor, sweet, dear Peeta.

Tears washed down Prims face like a waterfall.


	3. Chapter 3

The careers past, and they heard screams. The tears continued to fall down Prims face, but when they came back underneath them, Prim realised the tears of betrayal had turned to tears of anger.

"There's still no canon," said Prim.

There was an argument ensuing in the distance, and the voices storming towards them, under them and away. It was clear the child wasn't dead. Prim had started to gather up her pack. She was fuming.

Urgently Rue whispered in her ear, "What are you doing."

"If she's dead anyway, we'll help her on her way, and if she will live. Well, we have Capitol medicines here like I've never seen. I'm not even sure what half of them do. I want her to live to *spite them*."

Prim looked more determined than Rue had ever seen her, so she nodded, helped pack up the rope speedily and lead the way over the trees to where they had seen the fire.

They got there and within a look, Prims heart broke. This was a death designed to be extremely painful, and very long. People took days to bleed out from stomach piercings. She'd seen gut-ridden miners after accidents. It was not a good way to die. The poor girl was there, sweating, face full of pain.

Prim rushed to her side. Rue kept watch with her googles.

"I'm going to have to be quick, but theres nothing I can do to save you, but we can make this quick if you like."

"Take all my stuff," the girl responded weakly. "I saw you lost your shoes. You may need them later. Anything, just anything. You have to try and beat them. The bombs, it was genius. You got the girl from one. You have to try and live. You *must* try and beat them." She was desperately, feverishly murmuring, while Prim prepared an overdose of the pain medication in the pack to deliver direct to the heart.

She sat up, needle full.

"Ready."

The girl nodded. "Thankyou." She said. "Thank you for not leaving me to die."

"Be at peace, angel," The Prim said. She raised the needle up, and carefully stabbed the needle into an artery on the thigh of the girl. She watched the girls face wash over in peace from lack of pain, and then stop moving within the space of 10-15 seconds. Tears washed down Prims face. She was shaking.

Rue stood up and started gathering the girl's belongings, such as they were.

"We have to hurry but one of them is coming back, I'm not sure which. They're a while off, but coming back to finish the job it seems."

Rue then started to manipulate the jacket off the girl. Prim was struggling. Prim took the shoes.

"This feels wrong."

"She's been killed by kids." Rue said, "This *is* wrong".

Prim nodded.

She started writing something in the ground.

Rue looked over.

"What are you doing?" Rue said. "We have to get out of here."

"Trust me," was all that Prim said.

It would only be with the close up of the body collection that the words would be visible, but there would be no way to edit that out on a live image. Prim was quick, clever.

The footsteps of the career were loud, so loud they were almost defeating to the two little silent feet as they ran.

The career stood there in shock. The girl was dead. She *should not* be dead. The career knew. He knew, because as a strong lad, walking home from the school, he too had seen gut-ridden miners. Not a nice way to die, it's why he sneaked off to come back and finish the job. But the girl was lying there, completely at peace. Hands covering stomach, eyes shut. Laid out like the body was ready for a warriors funeral pyre.

It took him a second to make out the words.

"If we burn, you burn with us,"

Peeta laughed.

A short way away, the girls were moving into their domain, the trees. Then they were shifting imperceptibly, tree to tree, melting into the night.

Rue was a bit grumpy, to say the least.

"Close call." Rue commented.

"Worth it," Prim said back determinately.

"I mean, I get the killing her, but you could have helped me pack up."

"No Rue. This isn't about us. That's why I wrote what I wrote."

"What did you right?"

"What we said at the start, if we burn, you burn with us."

They fell silent.

"I guess I'm a killer twice over now," Prim commented. I threw the shoe at 1's bomb, and I've killed her.

Rue looked thoughtful.

"Glimmer would have killed you without a second thought, you know that Prim, you know that. And without you killing her, that poor girl would have suffered an even worse death. Sometimes there is victory in doing the right thing, even if it's the wrong thing."

She hugged her friend, who was still shaking from the ordeal.

"I'm sorry for taking it out on you that I was scared Prim. It was nasty. Close call"

They sat side by side and hugged for a while. Watched the sun rise.

"Whats our next move?" Prim asked

Without speaking Rue tipped up the rucksack that contained not only their original items, but the items from the dead girl. Another empty waterbottle, that much was good. Some nuts (salted, not good considering their dehydration), and a small knife. Rue had stolen the girls coat and hair ties (you never knew when you would need to tie things together).

"We need food," Rue said. "We need to spend today finding food, stockpiling if we can. "

"Water as well. The bottle is empty, and ours is too. I've got a splitting headache."

So they began their day. Berries and leaves Galore all day, but the stream was impossible to find. About midday, a small bottle of iodine appeared as a gift. Prim was in shock, even at this point, it must have cost the earth. It was signed from Haymitch.

 _Never knew you had it in you_

"We're on the right track," Prim said.

"How do you know that?" Rue asked, confused.

"He thinks like my sister. He's _seam_ like Katniss and I. He knows we're dehydrated, he knows we're… well… dying. After the heat all day he knows we won't last much longer before the confusion sets in."

Rue smiled, well come on then.

First they came across a frog, then mushrooms, a sure sign of a watercourse close by.

Then they fell upon it. They couldn't stop themselves from laughing and hugging each other, the relief palpable. Rue threw a stick into the fast flowing stream and watched it twirl around.

"I wanted to make sure it's not acid or something."

They filled their water and waited the requisite 20 minutes for the iodine to work before guzzling down the water and did it again.

 _Boom._

"I thought something else must be happening to keep us from getting some Gamemaker time" said Rue.

 _Boom. Boom._

"Is it bad I hope it isn't one of the little people?" Prim said. "I'm basically hoping someone's dead. That's horrible isn't it?"

"Not your fault Prim, you just got to remember that."

"Its going to happen soon though. The Game-makers. I wonder what they'll do."

"Yes, they won't want us in the final 8." Rue said. "They'll want the big people to finish us off."

"What do we do?"

Rue smiled.

"Same as ever. Trust that we're clever enough to figure it out."

They spent some time by the stream, out in the open air. Chatting about what to do next. Rue wanted to go and spy on the careers, Prim wanted to do something conservative.

Eventually, Prim and Rue decided to walk up the stream, staying close to the water but try and use the height of the hill to try and see what they could see from there. They got tramping.

No more 'booms' for the rest of the day.

They were close to the arena edge when they made their home in a tree again that night.

The anthem of Panem blared over the arena.

The dead were mounting up:

Glimmer- District 1 F

Haydock- District 4 M

Nevinost- District 3 F

Pine- District 7 M

Tanzcerz- District 8 F

Gerzmot- District 8 M

Defaid- District 9 M

Bwuch- District 9 F

Oiseau- District 10 M

Adler- District 10 F

Rue looked on in shock. She breathed out.

"10 dead, not including us. I did not think we would make it this far."

Prim touched 3 fingers to her lips and raised them to the air.

"What does that mean? I saw it at your reaping. No one clapped, but they did that."

"It's a sign of respect. Of love, it means… farewell to one whom you've loved."


End file.
